Steven Gerrard was fired as manager of Aston Villa after a poor start to the season. AFP Photo

Paul Kennedy

Steven Gerrard learned first hand this week just how tough life can be as a Premier League manager after he was sacked by Aston Villa.

Results have not gone well this season for the team from the Midlands, and Gerrard was, probably rightly so, given the chop.

There have been many factors that we know about. His big money signing, Philippe Coutinho has failed miserably to repeat his form at Liverpool where, incidentally, he played alongside Gerrard.

There was also the much publicised spat with Tyrone Mings when he stripped the defender of the club captaincy.

And I’m sure there were plenty of goings on behind the scenes that we don’t know about that led to his downfall.

But maybe one reason that’s been somewhat overlooked as to why the former England international was given the boot is pretty simple. He’s just nowhere near good enough.

I love Steven Gerrard. We actually went to the same school in Liverpool, although the lengthy age gap between the two of us meant we were never there at the same time.

He was a giant as a player, probably one of, if not the, best midfielders to ever pull on a red shirt.

But just because you were good at playing the game doesn’t equate to being a good manager. Look at Roy Keane for example, another colossal player, but someone who never really shone when he was given the chance to manage.

Gerrard did great in his first spell as manager when he was at the helm of Rangers in Glasgow. But let’s face facts, it’s no secret that the quality of football in Scotland is nowhere near as good as it is south of the border.

Aston Villa probably thought when signing Gerrard they were getting one of the best young, up-and-coming managers in the game. There was at the time a lot of talk that he would replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool when the German eventually decides to call it a day.

But instead it seems the job was too big for Gerrard, or, as I said earlier, he’s just not good enough to manager at such a high and intense level.

So that begs the question, what next?

He’s already been linked to a job in Turkey, which is probably nothing more than paper talk, and I’ve no doubt his name will be put forward for many more vacant managerial jobs in the coming time.

Whatever he does decide to do, his next decision is probably going to be the most important of his life.

If not successful wherever he goes, you wonder whether that could mark the end of his career as manager.

I want him to do well, and I want his time spent at Aston Villa to be just a blip in his post-player days.

But any talk of him managing Liverpool should be muted, for now, at least. VNS